Hello! My theater is performing it's first musical this summer- Pippin. There is a scene in the play in which the leading player makes a red scarf disappear in his hand, and then he goes center stage and pulls what seems to be the same red scarf out of the floor. As he pulls it out of the floor, it is seen that this scarf is much bigger- it's a curtain to a brand new set, which magically rises out of the floor.

Well. We're poor and can't do that, but I still need to know how to make the scarf disappear in his hand. I assume it's a down the sleeve maneuver, but I can't find the specific trick anywhere on the internet. Has anyone done this show before? Thanks for any help!

Drew

I hope magicians everywhere will forgive me for violating the code by revealing the method(s) used for this trick.

There are several ways to accomplish this effect.  I know two that are relatively simple and easy to master.

METHOD 1 calls for the use of a magician's device called the "thumb tip."  It is readily available in any magic store for about $5.00 - $10.00 depending on the quality.  It's exactly what is sounds like: a fake thumb that fits over the magician's actual thumb and painted to match his skin-tone.  (The match needs not be exact)

If you purchase the trick, it will come with instructions for making a scarf vanish.  You may also need to purchase the scarf, which is typically made of thinner cloth than is readily available off-the-shelf.  The scarf might cost you an extra $20.00 or more depending on its size and quality.  It is a very elegant trick and requires only a little sleight-of-hand practice to make it work.

METHOD 2 calls for a device called a "sleeve pull."  This can also be purchased, but is relatively simple to make on your own.  Basically, it is a cord that is wrapped to one of the magician's wrists (say, his left).  The cord runs up his sleeve, across his back, and down his other sleeve where it is tied to the center of the scarf.    The length of the cord is somewhat shorter than the length of the magician's arms outstretched. (You'll need to adjust the length to suit your performer.)

HOW IT WORKS: The magician wears the "sleeve pull" under his jacket and keeps his arms relaxed as he shows the scarf in his (right) hand.  As he makes a grand gesture - he suddenly straightens his arms, the cord is pulled taut and the scarf is yanked up his sleeve.

The advantage to the Sleeve Pull is that is cheap, easy to make, and entirely mechanical (requiring little or no sleight-of-hand skill).   Both the cording and the scarf can be stuff you have on hand already.  However, the magician's costume must have sturdy enough sleeves to conceal the apparatus and withstand the force of the vanishing scarf.  A poofy shirt won't do -- it will bunch and spoil the effect, or worse, leave the scarf partially in view.

The advantage to the Thumb Tip is that it is more "impromptu" and easily disposed of once the trick is accomplished.  The peformer can do the trick practically at any time and move on.  The Sleeve Pull must be pre-set and the magician is stuck with the thing up his sleeve until he can make a change off-stage.

I'm sure there are other methods that might better suit your choreography or blocking.  You could even enlist the help of a local magician who might teach you a more dazzling effect, or share with you how to make one.  Promises of credit or an advertisement in the program could be used as incentive.

Good luck.

Topper, as a dabbler in the magical arts, I do wish you had used the private message function for your answer (which was a very good answer, by the way.)  No harm done, though; I suspect rather fewer people come here than saw the Masked Magician stuff a few years ago!

Exposure is a hot topic among the magic community, because half the fun for the audience of a magic show is not knowing how the tricks are done. The next time Joan54 sees a magic show, for example, she may end up looking for the "thumb thing" and might lose her suspension of disbelief for a while.

On the other hand, people have to learn somewhere, and any public library will have several freely available books that reveal all the "standards" to anybody with a library card.

I guess it's up to magicians -- and actors playing magicians, Drew  -- to make the show entertaining enough to keep people from thinking about methods at all, even methods that they know.

POB is right, and once again I apologize to fellow magicians everywhere.  Had I known how to use the private reply function I would have.  (The computer is still a bigger mystery to me than any magic).

In my defense (of the dark arts -- thank you, Harry Potter) I merely wanted to guide SCT Drew to go to a magic shop and know for which product to ask:  the Thumb Tip.  It comes in pretty much every kids magic kit bought in any toy store and is one of the first tricks sleight-of-hand artists learn.

The Sleeve Pull I found in Clayton "The Great Merlini" Rawson's "Golden Book of Tricks and Magic" published in 1964 which I read when I was about 8 years old and I still have on my shelf. 

And I'm equally sorry if I ruined Joan 54's sense of wonderment and illusion.  But it's also possible I've steered her toward a hobby in magic.

No harm done, Topper.  I'm sure you didn't ruin anything for Joan; I was just seizing on a handy example.  You will have to report to Prof. Mcgonagall for detention, though.

Hey..no one ruined my sense of magic.  Somehow I think magic is more entertaining when I know some of the tricks in much the same way that I enjoy the theater more because  I know what a production it is.

I saw a magician when I was a child and he did a trick where he ripped up a piece of paper and made it turn into something (I forget what) then he asked for audience volunteers..I went up on stage..he gave me a piece of paper and I couldn't rip it.  As I tried and tried to tear the paper he made all sorts of things appear on me and near me.  After everyone had a good laugh at my expense and I returned to my seat I took the piece of trick paper with me (it is rubber between two sheets of paper).  I believe I still have it somewhere in a trunk. Ruin my sense of magic?  No...I think he fanned the flames by letting me in on the trick.

Originally posted by tristanrobin I read it. And I STILL don't know what it meant

That's because we have the power to cloud your mind.

<mysterious Jedi gesture> "These are not the thumb tips you're looking for."